ICS Working Papers Nº2/2016

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ICS WORKING PAPERS 2016
conservative elites and dictators was a common occurrence in the 1930s’ Organization by
occupational groups was promoted as an alternative to parties and parliamentarianism since
corporatist organizations ‘had been a pet concept of Päts’ for quite some time’ He even
claimed the legacy of German social democrats like August Bebel and the ‘self-governing’
traditions of guilds.
Between 1934 and 1936, the regime created 15 professional chambers, representatives of
which would later be assigned seats in the upper house of the National Assembly. In 1935, a
transitional institution to advise the government was also created, the State Economic
Council (Riigi majandusnõukogu) with 15 members elected by the occupational chambers and
10 appointed by the president. The political system was not made wholly corporatist with the
1938 constitution: the new Riigikogu, like the National Assembly, was bicameral, the lower
Chamber of Representatives (Riigivolikogu) had 80 directly-elected members, while the upper
chamber, the state council (Riiginõukogu), had 40 members. Of the latter, 16 were chosen by
the corporatist chambers, while of the 14 institutional representatives, six were appointed ex
officio: the commander-in-chief, the heads of the Lutheran and Orthodox churches, the
rectors of the two universities, and the head of the Bank of Estonia; local governments
elected four representatives, while the civil guard, education and culture, health sector and
ethnic minorities each elected one According to the constitution, the right to nominate
candidates for the office of president was given to three institutions: the Chamber of
Representatives, the state council and a council of representatives of local governments who
were each allowed to nominate one candidate.
In Latvia, Karlis Ulmanis, leader of the main right-wing Agrarian Union (LZS – Latvijas
Zemnieku Savienemiba), declared a state of siege after several attempts to revise the
constitution to limit parliamentary power. Parliament was eventually dissolved, along with
the political parties – including his own; however, unlike his Baltic neighbours, Ulmanis did
not create a single party. Nevertheless, mobilization of the members of the previous party
elite was significant. Ulmanis initially ruled via the government, and once the presidential
mandate was over, in 1936, he combined the office of the prime minister with that of the
president. He nourished a cult of personality around himself, becoming the Vadonis (leader)
of Latvia.
The institutionalization of corporatism in Latvia was the most complete of all of the Baltic
States and historians have debated the external influences on it, including the Italian and the
Austrian A total of six corporations were created between 1934 and 1938, and the old
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